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#WaitingForEd /and how I explained to kids what is all about/

Today I was taking part in an action #WaitingForEd initialized by Edward Snowden’s supporters. People all over the world went to airports with a printed sign with Edward’s name on it and waited for his arrival.

I decided to took my kids with me because of several reasons: it’s important for me and I like to share such issues with them, it’s important for their future to save Snowden and encourage hundreds of other young people to civil disobedience and I treat is a part of their civil education. Myself I was raised by people who believed that one should always stand up for one’s believes and against injustice. I want to teach my kids same attitude. It is not very practical* one but world need it :)

Few days ago I looked over some old family pictures with my daughters and made them deeply confused while explaining that on one of the pictures their great grandpa is in a prison. It was disturbing specially to the younger one because she thought that only bad guys go to prisons. Believe me it is not easy to explain to 5 yo kid why good guys go there but I did my best. My story goes like that…

… once upon a time, two hundred years ago, here in Poland most of the people lived in the villages, they were growing cereals and vegetables, harvesting, breeding cows and sheep, working all they long very hard. But nothing that they produced belonged to them, bad rich people took that all from them each day. So they were very poor, didn’t have food, good clothes, money, time to learn how to read. But they couldn’t go to seek another job because they were slaves and belonged to their masters…

/// because the easiest way to explain smthing new to the kid is to link it with smthing similar or analogical that it already knew I asked her if she knows what ‚slave’ is, remembering that she watched a film “Moses, prince of Egypt” and we discussed this subject before; she said that, yes, she knows that slave is a man with brown skin who don’t have money for clothes and other people beat him with a whip. Basically right answer, isn’t it? ///

All this people were very unhappy, trying change their situation but couldn’t succeed because bad people sent soldiers if they protest and hungry people without guns had to go back to work. But they try and try and finally was free, so a lot of them went to towns looking for a job and money and better life for their families. So did my great grandpa, he abandoned the village and went to biggest town in this area, and this is how our family came to Cracow. He wasn’t interesting guy so we focused on his son, my grandpa, the man from the prison’s picture. When he was a teenager he realized that a lot of people who was quite recently liberated live in a very bad condition. They work in factories…

/// and here was pause for explaining that it was completely different factory that Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory :D So the easiest way smtimes is not very helpful and one have to unlink previous meaning with a new one///

… people were working really hard but once again bad rich people were taking all what they produced away. Even small kids had to work, they didn’t have time to spend with mommies and daddies, they work all day and night, didn’t go to pre-schools. Very sad life they had.

So some people, like my grandparents {all forth of them were communists} was talking with working people to convince that they should go to the owners and demand shorter working day and more money. They helped them to protest, they were also printing books and posters. But rich people didn’t want workers to have easiest life so they convince policemen that they had to catch this people and sent to jail. That is why my grandpa spend few years in prison (grandma also was about but managed to dodge it)…

…and then were some family details, not very important from Snowden’s perspective ;)

When today I was explaining to my kids** what for we are going to airport it was quite easy to say that we are going to show to other people that there is a guy who’s name is Edward (same like my grandpa, fortuitously for the story) who also wanted to do smthing good for a people, and bad guys want to send him for that to the prison for a very long time. He discovered that those guys are doing bad things and decided to tell other people about it even if he knew that it is risky. He just didn’t want to stay quiet when other people need some help. And so do we. We care for a future of freedom so we are #WaitingForEd on Chopin Airport, Warsaw, Poland.

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* I even found accidentally in some memories a story of my grandfather who was so dedicated to the idea of social justice that his co-prisoners from “strojbat” was a little bit angry for him that he share with other people goods that they obtained so hardly and didn’t appreciated his ‚integrity’ facing death from cold (it was in USSR before Stalin let Poles to establish their own army)

** Actually only younger one needed this explanation, the older one said: yeah, mom, I know who is Edward Snowden, you talk about him a lot

The author of that beautiful picture above is Jaroslaw Lipszyc who released it under free art license.